266 READINGS IN RURAL ECONOMICS 



them away, but that the gifts have in too many cases inured to 

 the benefit of those whom the government meant to ignore. 

 The land-grabber is, in most cases, simply taking advantage 

 of the chances which a defective system has cast in the way of 

 shrewd and forehanded or unscrupulous men. The difficulty is 

 certainly not in the Land Office, which, in the midst of perplex- 

 ing complications, has striven hard to protect our lands. The 

 fault lies at the door of the Congress of the United States, which 

 has the power, but not the will, to correct notorious defects in 

 our system. Still further back, the fault is with the free citizens 

 of the republic, who have been too busy to insist that there 

 should be a comprehensive land policy, providing for the equitable 

 disposition of all classes of the public lands. 



